ST. LOUIS — Even the largest crowd in Busch Stadium III wasn’t sure how to celebrate the St. Louis Cardinals’ walk-off because of the strange trip.

Baseball is a fun, weird game and it was on full display as the Cardinals spilled out of their dugout with a 5-4 victory while the Red Sox remained on the field pleading their case to a pack of umpires.

They had a reason to argue given the history working against them. In the last 12 World Series tied 1-1, the team that has won Game 3 has claimed the Fall Classic 11 times.

Allen Craig figured to play a pivotal role in this series, but with his bat, not his feet. The unusual moment unfolded thusly: With runners at second and third in the ninth, Jon Jay hit a hard shot to second baseman Dustin Pedroia. He was drawn in to cut the run, and did just that, firing a strike to catcher Jarrod Saltamacchia to retire Yadier Molina.

Then things got odd.

Saltamacchia made the reckless decision to fire to third base in an attempt to erase the advancing Craig. Will Middlebrooks couldn’t handle the throw, showing his inexperience in leaving the bag late to keep the ball from sailing into the outfield. As he fell to the ground, he became entangled with Craig as he raised his feet.

Craig stumbled and umpire Jim Joyce — famous for his blown call in Armando Galarraga’s imperfect game with the Detroit Tigers — ruled obstruction, pointing as it happened. The play continued. Craig was thrown out, but Craig was awarded the plate on Joyce’s ruling.

“A tough way to have a game end. I don’t know how he gets out of the way when he’s lying on the ground. I guess by letter of the rule, you can make that call,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow.”

As the fans became unglued, finally trusting the outcome, the Cardinals moved into a favorable spot given how out of place the Red Sox looked in the National League park.

Farrell did not have his best night, leaving Mike Napoli a spectator as reliever Brandon Workman hit in the ninth of a tie game. He admitted he should have switched the slugger in earlier.

The bizarre finish worked well on a night when moves were questioned and consistently backfired. The Cardinals held a 4-2 lead entering the eighth thanks to another starbust performance from Matt Holliday. The former Rockie, who was once baby-sat by Farrell when the manager worked at Oklahoma State, ripped a two-run double.

Farrell was bailed out by the Red Sox’s late rally, but would soon have another reason to cry himself to sleep.

Daniel Nava’s groundball-scoring run and Xander Bogaerts’ high-hopping single brought Boston back, tying the score off Trevor Rosenthal. He was attempting a five-out save.

That decision became a blurry memory as Craig stumbled home. The umpires made it clear that there does not have to be intent for obstruction to be called. It led to confusion, and ultimately, celebration.

“When he tried to advance to home plate, the feet were up in the air; Craig tripped over Middlebrooks,” Joyce said. “Immediately and instinctively I called obstruction there. The feet didn’t play too much into that. He was still in the area where the baserunner needs to go to go to home plate. And there was contact.”

Star of game

Umpire Jim Joyce became interwoven in the outcome with one of the strangest endings to a World Series game. He ruled obstruction on Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks as he became entangled with Allen Craig. Craig was thrown out at home in the ninth, but was awarded the winning run on Joyce’s call. The Red Sox have been punished by two costly throwing mistakes to third base in the past two games.

Key moment

After a serious of puzzling moves, manager Mike Matheny used Craig correctly. Craig delivered a hit off closer Koji Uehara, setting up the odd finish.

Troy joined The Denver Post in 2002 as the Rockies' beat writer and became a Broncos beat writer in 2014 before assuming the lead role before the 2015 season. He is a past president of the local chapter of Baseball Writers Association of America and has won more than 20 local and national writing awards since graduating from the University of Colorado journalism school with honors in 1993.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tyreek Hill didn’t know what to do when he started hearing thousands of people in Arrowhead Stadium chanting his name, even as he stood all alone on the frozen turf waiting for the punt.